The ’70s was part of America’s reawakening of New Hollywood. The industry’s rebirth came with descriptive imagery of the excruciating horror the world was going through. The industry was able to mix the creative side of big-studio filmmaking with the emotional sensitivity of art-house cinematography. The ’70s saw the growth of films into new levels, greatly influencing the generations of movies that came after it. We had movies like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, The Deer Hunter, and Star Wars: A New Hope. With a boom of horror movies coming out in this decade we just had to make a top 10 1970s horror movies list.
Now, during this period, a horror movie got the first-ever Academy Award nomination. Before 1970 no horror movie had ever been nominated for an Academy Award. But The Exorcist defiled the odds as the first horror movie to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The ’70s era came with a lot of top choice horror movies like The Omen, Phantasm, The Hills Have Eyes, and many more. But I have put together for you 10 of the topmost, terrifying, sci-fi, serial killing, horror movies of the ‘70s.
Presenting the Top 10 1970s Horror Movies!
10. The Wicker Man [1973]
“I think I could turn and live with animals… Not one of them is respectable or unhappy, all over the earth.”
Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man
The tenth on this top 10 1970s horror movies list is an intelligent horror movie, most familiar, especially to the Britons. Many horror films have explored misty worship, but only a few have explored foggy cultism with such inventiveness as seen in The Wicker Man.
Sergeant Neil Howie, played by Edward Woodward of blessed memory, arrives in Summerisle to investigate a missing child. Summerisle is a small Scottish island with residents engaging in frivolous sexual displays and weird pagan rituals. Its ending is widely regarded as an unusual spin on terror. And the sneaky unveiling of the riddle will render you helpless alongside the hero.
9. Black Christmas [1974]
“He Knows When You’re Sleeping, He Knows if You’re Awake, HE KNOWS…”
Black Christmas Tagline
The ninth-placed movie is a Canadian horror film that involves a killer murdering a group of people, a slasher film. From Halloween to When Stranger Calls up to Scream, and beyond, every great slasher film ever made owes an iconic debt to Black Christmas. It was too scary for the network television audience. Hence, NBC had the horror classic removed from the airwave.
The story includes a group of sorority sisters who receive threatening calls from a deranged killer. It is not a mere threat because the killer stalks and murders them. It is more unnerving than you can think because the killer lives in the attic of the sorority house. The choice of a Christmas season was even more all the making of a great movie Black Christmas will always be.
8. Jaws [1975]
“I’m familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass!”
Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper in Jaws
One of the leading contenders for the first-ever summer blockbuster title, Jaws transcended the ’70s era that it was created. The ingenious creativity of Steven Spielberg, the producer and director of Jaws, came with a perfectly constructed screenplay in Jaws.
Jaws is a movie about a giant 25-foot white shark construct, called “Bruce.” The giant shark threatens the inhabitants of a quiet island by the name Amity. This spurs a police chief – Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, who is the marine scientist – Matt Hooper, and a fisherman’s role – Quint, acted by Robert Shaw, into action against the beast.
7. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre [1974]
“I just can’t take no pleasure in killing. There are just some things you gotta do. Don’t mean you have to like it.”
Jim Siedow as Old Man in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
My seventh pick is a ruthless one. The message passed by Tobe Hooper in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is very straight forward. It bluntly expresses that man’s mortality is made of nothing more than blooded meats and bones. The horror movie does offer every single word of its title.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre portrayed the average American (Texas) dream that went wrong. A group of five tired teenage travelers stumbled upon a Sawyer’s farmstead and its disturbing residents. Some of the notable residents include meat hooks, chainsaws, and an aptly named “Leatherface” family. Incredibly, the horror in the movie was delivered with a minimal amount of blood.
6. The Exorcist [1973]
“It looks like a type of disorder that you rarely ever see any more, except in primitive cultures. We call it a somnambuliform possession. Quite frankly, we don’t know much about it except that it starts with some conflict or guilt that eventually leads to the patient’s delusion that his body’s been invaded by an alien intelligence, a spirit if you will.”
Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist
The odd defiling The Exorcist seems to have missed out on the top five of this 10-movie list. It shows you just how competitive horror movies from the ’70s were, the peak collection. For over three decades, The Exorcist was the reigning highest-grossing horror movie of all time. There were records of the audiences running out of the cinemas and some others falling sick after seeing the movie.
The Exorcist saw Linda Blair play the child, Regan MacNeil, possessed by a demon. This 1973 horror classic is genuinely scary. Seeing Regan doing the spider-walk or spinning her head is gruesomely petrifying. All these terrific scenes make The Exorcist a very effective horror movie.
5. Dawn of the Dead [1978]
“Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills! The people it kills get up and kill!”
David Crawford as Dr. Foster in Dawn of the Dead
George Romero is hyped as the sole inventor of modern-day zombie movies. In Dawn of the Dead, George Romero depicted a zombie apocalypse. The apocalypse has all the making of brutality, grit, and intelligence that surviving a swamp of zombies requires. Dawn of the Dead pointed to degrading human traits, helping us to differentiate between surviving and living.
The story featured a couple Francine, played by Gaylen Ross, and Stephen, played by David Emge, alongside Peter, acted by Ken Foree, and the character Roger, acted by Scott Reiniger. All four took a helicopter and headed out in search of a haven. Their haven was the roof of a mall which they had to fight tool and nail to keep. Dawn of the Dead has that horror feeling wishing for the characters to survive. The bloodbath is a bloodcurdling thrill as well. It only makes sense for this movie to be in the number 5 spot on the list of the top 10 1970s horror movies.
4. Carrie [1976]
“It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It’s me. Me. If I concentrate enough, I can move things.”
Sissy Spacek as Carrie in Carrie
The horror movie Carrie comes in fourth on my list with all the brilliant allegories from Stephen King. Carrie was the debut novel by Stephen King to be adapted to the big screen.
Carrie White, a role acted by Sissy Spacek, is a shy, friendless 16-year old who was constantly bullied by her peers at school. She would not find life any easier at home either with her religiously freaky mother, Margaret White played by Piper Laurie. Her horrifying consolation was her ability to influence tangible objects without physical interaction. Both Carrie and her mum were respectively nominated for Academy Award as lead and Supporting Actress role.
3. Halloween [1978]
“You must be ready for him…If you don’t, it’s your funeral.”
Donald Pleasence as Loomis in Halloween
Let me start by saying Halloween is incredibly scary. John Carpenter, the movie director, infused some master class suspense into this horror. However, the movie’s highlight was an embodiment of pure inhumanity.
The film is about a silent serial killer character by the name of Michael Myers. Nick Castle played the role. It takes place on the Halloween holiday, giving rise to the quote, “It’s Halloween; everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” The location is a small town called Haddonfield, Illinois. The killing spree starts with his sister. Then he is locked up in a mental institution for 15 years. After his escape, he goes after her friends.
2. Suspiria [1977]
“Bad luck isn’t brought by broken mirrors, but by broken minds.”
Udo Kier as Dr. Frank Mandel in Suspiria
Dario Argento’s Suspiria masterpiece has won him the title of horror’s greatest saint of Giallo. He has earned the title of the “Master of the Thrill” and “Master of Horror” amongst horror aficionados. Operatic scenes and violent killings well lavish Suspiria. Thus, it is also widely hailed for its enchanting, bright, and vibrant colors.
Jessica Harper features as the American dancer character Suzy, who travels to a German ballet school. On arrival, she realizes her excitement about admission is actually for a witch coven. After a short while, her Suspiria begins to unravel. The highlight of Suzy’s Suspiria is falling sick, and the maggots falling from the ceiling. Now, she has to deal with her knowledge of why fellow students are disappearing.
1. ALIEN [1979]
“This is Ripley, the last survivor of the Nostromo…Signing off.”
Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in ALIEN
At the very top of the top 10 1970s horror movies list is the late ‘70s Sci-fi/Horror, no other than ALIEN. A perfect production if I must mention. Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking classic was where the subsequent generation of science-fiction horror films got their definition. Alien dwells on the fear of many. The fear that something could jump out of the dark and kill you. The film actively reinforces this fear throughout its entire runtime.
Alien focuses on the ill fate of a spacecraft crew, Nostromo. Unknown to the crew is an imminent invasion of their spacecraft. The crew intercepts a distress signal from another planet and goes right for it, hoping to investigate it. Unfortunately, an alien organism attacks them. As expected, the alien is not looking to make peace with humans or any other habitants of planet earth. Its blood is an extremely corrosive acid.
In conclusion…
…these are just 10 of an illustrious list, and all 10 have a place among the best horror movies ever made. Standing shoulders to shoulders with horror movies like Night of the Living Dead, The Others, Candyman, Drag Me to Hell, Saw, Insidious, An American Werewolf in London, Ring I & II, and so on. Each of these 10 movies still serves as a blueprint for making similar films even after four decades. Even if you have not seen some yet, you will notice stints of the dreadful setting of horror movies in this article.
Author: Chris Ingledue
Contact: email
Bio: I’m the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. My vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day I work in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year; scouring the internet – like we did the Sears Catalog of yesteryear – for the next great treasure, awaiting the arrival of the postman as if he was Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. Every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!